Help HCN complete its online archives!

A laborious process: Former intern Marshall Swearingen lugs fragile yellowing issues (from HCN's old newspaper-stock days) into the Montana State University library in Bozeman, where a desk-sized scanner is available for public use. He places each page on the scanner bed, puts a clear Plexiglas sheet on the spread to flatten it, then starts the scanner. He's already spent days exposing himself to countless false sunrises from its powerful light beams. He jokes that he needs to protect his eyes with sunglasses, but says,"I don't think it's giving me a tan."

Ray Ring

We're proud that High Country News is 43 years old -- but our website, hcn.org, is still incomplete, because our online archive goes back only 20 years. Now we're finally scanning in issues published before 1994. Soon they'll be available online.

We need your help to finish the project, though. So far, our point man, former HCN intern Marshall Swearingen, has scanned more than 200 old issues. Many were stored in the Wyoming Outdoor Council's headquarters in Lander, Wyo., HCN's birthplace, and some were at our current headquarters in Paonia, Colo. We're still scouting around for all of the 1981 issues, plus certain issues from 1993, 1983, 1982, 1980, and 1974 – 1969. See http://hcne.ws/19GD0cg for the complete list.

This project is partly supported by a donation from subscriber Rob Corkran. It's a longtime goal of senior editor Ray Ring, who hopes to have all of HCN preserved for posterity before the old issues crumble into dust.

Artists and art lovers visitWe've enjoyed having so many visitors this summer, but we're way behind on noting them; we'll do our best to catch up this fall! Carolyn Sato, a bronze sculptor from Cave Creek, Ariz., has been captivated by Paonia for years. She's living here this summer, and came by our office to sign up to subscribe. Ace McCasland and David Divine of Colorado Springs, Colo., still felt a little lightheaded from their morning soak when they swung into Paonia on their tour of area hot springs. David is a special education teacher, while Ace is a jeweler and sculptor

CorrectionsIn "Dear Friends" in the Sept. 16 issue, we misspelled the last name of visitor Brian Gatlin as Jatlin; our apologies. Alert reader Donald Dickey of Mill Valley, Calif., dropped us a note about our Aug. 19 op-ed "Too many of us just want to fight," pointing out that Stanford's athletic team is nicknamed "The Cardinal," as in the color, not "The Cardinals" as in the birds, or the red-robed prelates, for that matter. Thanks, Donald.